ESCONDIDO  The opening of a fitness obstacle course last week at Felicita Elementary was a homecoming for Henry Leso.

Leso attended Felicita as a child and served as principal for seven years before being transferred last spring. The obstacle course — dedicated Friday as the Henry Leso Fitness and Fun Course — was a dream of Leso’s. It features monkey bars, pull-up bars and push-up, sit-up and a climbing stations.

“The upper-body strength of our students is not up to par,” said Leso, who was a middle school physical education teacher for 20 years. “I wanted to concentrate on the upper body, the shoulders and arms.”

Leso said he started work on the idea about three years ago, designing a course with John Domingue, a certified playground inspector with the Escondido Union School District.

“I was very tickled that it was in honor of him,” Domingue said. “He wanted to make sure kids got exercise.

“I give him all the credit because he pushed and pushed and pushed for it. Nobody worked harder for it than he did.”

Leso sought a San Diego Chargers grant to pay for the course, but the project wasn’t a finalist.

Money from Proposition K, the school bond passed in 2002, paid for the course and other recently completed improvements at Felicita, said Martha Maes, the district’s facilities director. The course and improvements, which cost $86,241, included new masonry handball walls, fencing, asphalt work, and drainage and grading work.

In March, the state identified Felicita as a persistently low-achieving school based on factors such as several years of not meeting the target growth in test scores. The Escondido Union School District had several options for the school and chose one that called for a new principal. Leso was moved to Del Dios Middle School as an assistant principal.

Felicita students were thrilled to see Leso on campus again, cheering and clapping as he joined Principal Kathy Morris during an assembly before heading out to the course.

“Mr. Leso’s No. 1 concern was always for the students and Felicita School community,” Morris said. “He has a vision for Felicita School as a place where each student is developing strong and health bodies and minds.”

After Leso cut the red ribbon surrounding the course, fifth-graders Laura Santiago and Miguel Mendoza were the first to take the challenge.